Personal use portable communicators such as cellular telephones have become increasingly popular, miniaturized and ubiquitous. It has become common for portable cellular telephones to be carried in automobiles for emergency and other use. Moreover, it has also become common for people to utilize cellular telephones during operation of the automobile including not only during stops at traffic lights but also during motion of the vehicle. As a result, the problem of positioning a cellular telephone or other portable communicator in a position readily available to the driver has presented a problem not only of convenience but of safety in that drivers who are forced to divert their gaze from the road to locate and grasp a cellular telephone present traffic hazards not only to themselves but to persons in other vehicles.
While new automobile designs have included cellular telephones positioned on and secured by special holders or cradles on the console or in other fixed positions within convenient reach of the vehicle operator, many vehicles are not so equipped such that the driver often gropes for the cellular telephone positioned on the seat, floor or the glove compartment. It is accordingly desirable to be able to retrofit vehicles such as automobiles with a stationary holder for a cellular telephone which is positioned within easy reach of the driver and which provides a positive holding force to retain the cellular telephone in the holder. It is important that the driver be able to retrieve and reposition the cellular telephone in the holder without diverting his gaze from the road ahead, particularly under driving or traffic conditions.